What did you fix today? (part 2)

[Sean]

This large thread has been split. The original thread can be found here: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Original post by darinwc:

What did you fix today?

Post your stories here!

 

[j-dogg]

Hood on my Canon 70-200 f4L IS, I grafted it to a rubber lens hood so my 70-210 f4 could have a decent lens hood.

 

[Brian Legge]

Picked up a very beat up, dirty Medalist II. I spent a while cleaning it up externally, cleaning the rangefinder, shutter blades etc... and then the shutter jammed.

I'm still trying to figure this one out. It may be the cocking/shutter button side but I was tempted to think the shutter itself. I opened up the shutter and verified it can fire if manually cocked but haven't found where the jam comes from. I tried removing the shutter but haven't figured out how to do that either. Frustrating as I'd hoped to at least get it to the point where I could run a roll through it. The condition of the camera over all didn't make it a good professional CLA candidate.

 

[donkee]

Since I am no longer that mechanically inclined I stick with the easy stuff.

My latest are a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash that was really nasty dirty with a stuck shutter and a Target Six-20 with mirrors that were loose and flopping, sticky shutter, cruddy etc.

I'll get to run a couple rolls through them this weekend to see how they are running.

 

[dehk]

Agfa Isolette.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

My main om4t. I got a lens for it today and all of a sudden after mounting the aperture changes did not affect the meter. Meter only worked during stop down with the dof button. Ugh.

After some checking the old lens and then the body I figured out the aperture coupling lever in the body was not returning. Quick check on my computer made me realize my service manual wasn't saved when I had to reinstall my windows after a bad virus. Doh. Ugh.

Lucky I have a parts body that I have been using up to repair my two om4ts. So took the lens mount off and figured out how the aperture meter coupling worked as well as the shutter speed selector. Then stripped my user body to repair. Turns out the tensioned string that returns the aperture metering flange jumped its track a bit and there was some friction against the shutter speed selector gear flange. Got it all back together but still didn't work, had to go back and swap all three pieces of the mount, shutter speed ring, and speed gear flange. Finally worked, but i must have bumped the speed gear inside and speeds were off. Ugh. Again apart and adjusted and back again.

Success. Finally. 2hrs later lol.

 

[mtjade2007]

Contax Planar 50mm 1.4 MM Repair

I finally took the lens out and take it apart yesterday. It had oily aperture blades and was stuck open for many years. It took me almost 2 days to get it done. Everything seems to work now. The only thing I am not too happy about is that the glass now is not as spotless as used to be. There is no way I could keep dusts from getting there. Before I started I could shine a flash light into the glass and there was no dust inside. Now I can see some. I will have to live with it now.

 

[Greg Heath]

When I clean lenses, I actually wash them in a plastic jar with dish washing soap, and using my fingers underwater very gently to clean the surfaces. I then rinse in regular cold water, and then again in distilled water and pat dry.

I then reinstall them in the lens holders.


Some times when I don't want to remove the lens I use denatured alcohol. along with some frosted breath, and a terry cloth rag.




If you have fungus on a lens...use a 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. It dissolves the fungus. Then wash in cool water, followed by a dish washing soap cleaning and then the distilled water bath.




Greg

 

[mtjade2007]

Lens Cleaning

Greg, I have tried 100% Isopropyl Alcohol (contains no water) to clean lens surface before. It always left some traces of cleaning on the surface. I even tried to coat the surface with it and let it dry by itself it still left obvious marks on the surface. If I wipe it with micro fiber cloth the marks will be gone but I can still see some traces. I just never found a way to clean without adding something to the surface.

 

[Greg Heath]

When I clean lenses, they are completely disassembled. The cameras I use are 40+ years old. I rarely touch my lenses normally. When they are on the camera I use spray eyeglass cleaner I get at the drug store and a small terry cloth towel

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Ugh camera problems galore, but finally all fixed now. First my om4t got jammed, shutter locked, rewind stuck in down position, manual wind of film rollers did not engage it. Quick fix, popped the bottom plate, removed the double geared assembly held on by three screws, which released the lock and tension. Wind and fire to check, and then replaced carefully and checked.

Problem two, noticed the aperture coupling lever under the lens mount still was sticking after I had swapped the mount, speed ring, and toothed ring assembly. This caused incorrect metering display. Took it all apart and checked all contact surfaces for friction spots or rough patches or warping. Everything was fine, was about to give up but noticed a tiny area of metal was bent from the bottom corner of the metal cover that is on the bottom of the mirror box, which protects the circuit board and shutter speed gear wheel. It was pressing against the inner part of plastic aperture ring coupling, only in contact when screwed down tight and barely any friction, but enough to make the ring stick or slow to return. Bent back and fixed.

Since I fixed two things why not a third? Grabbed my new (used and abused) 28mm f2. Was shooting a test roll with it, but the sticking aperture was driving me crazy, stuck at f16 and now at f11 too when stopped down, but fine again if manually turned. For example when using dof preview at f16 or f11 it would stay dark and stuck at that aperture until a wider aperture was selected. Disassembled, turns out someone worked on this lens as well in the past, was marked with red sharpie on screws. Took off mount, and determined it was with the return lever and not sticking blades. Thought maybe it was a worn spring, as it looked fairly clean. Decided to check If i could swap it from another lens. Took apart a snappy 135mm But it didnt use a coil spring. Took apart a teleconverter, but those were too long. Disassembled mount for better evaluation, almost lost the long spring on the carpet. The Dof preview lever was slightly bent causing friction as well as a bit of dirt on the black inner lever guide ring. the small Dof button would also get jammed if pushed too inward. Cleaned surfaces with naphtha and bent dof lever arm back and reassembled. Removed a deteriorating black rubber bumper, but no replacement to reinstall. Works fine without if, but longterm maybe not as it's metal on metal. Works snappier now and no more sticking.

 

[Steve Smith]

I fixed the bellows for the 5x4 camera I'm building. They were too long and needed about 1/2" of closed length cut off to enable the camera to fold up properly. There was a lot of hesitation before I made the first cut!


Steve.

 

[EdGallop]

I releathered my new (to me) Yashica FX-103 with some brown anti-skid tape. I was surprised at how good the brown looks on the black and metal camera. I think the metal is brushed aluminum or something... It might not look as good on a shiny chrome camera. It's super grippy!

I'll never drop this thing. LOL

Ed

 

[Greg Heath]

finally fixed

I finally fixed two cameras this week.

Rebuilt a Konica Auto S2 Rangefinder and a newly acquired Petri 7S Rangefinder. I thought I would really like the Konica, but now I actually prefer the Petri. Light weight and the built in functional Selenium meter is dead nuts on. I am looking forward to finishing the Yashica Electro 35 GS I started last month, that was a basket case.

I love Rangefinders !!

Greg

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

4 rolls of 35mm Arista Premium 36exp film for the younger students, we did still lifes a week ago with objects such as large animal skull, legos, jenga blocks, and clay sculptures. Fixed in TF-5 (finally got around to using it once the Kodak fixer was exhausted, bought two bottles to test) and the images look good. Contact sheet making and printing them next week.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I fixed or invented the necessarity of fix the 3 volt lithium cell which is 15 years old in Polaroid 350. Now the shutter makes two sound together , one mechanical jump of the finger arm and the working sound of electric shutter. I amazed with the finding of this and finally dusty polaroid works as it is made for.
One Apuger sent me two fuji empty instant film film case and now its time to find soviet cheap forte paper ,cut it , use as a paper negative , take an another paper , put the cut paper negative in middle of the other paper and make a contact print.
Wow I am an ultra small large format photographer !
In 15 years starting one age before demise of Polaroid , I only used two packages of instant film and amazed with the results. I dont know why but I suspect the emulsion , it was recording the sandstone walls of rich old Ottoman Banks , better than I see.
Film is an amazing thing and when you see these findings , I really feel overjoy.
By the way , I am seeing people butchers these cameras and its a shame.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Nikkor 105mm 2.5 AIS, from what I can tell, I am at least the 3rd owner, hence the affordability of it. A bit rough outside, with someones name on the barrel, not the same as the buyer I got it from. Clean front glass, but light scratches all over the back. It was advertised with a large piece of lint/dirt/dust right in the middle right inside the rear element.

I stripped it tonight in less than 5min, its that easy. Someone also had posted great visual instructions of the process. Cleaned the insides of the center and rear elements with a brush, blower, and compressed air for the more stubborn stuff. Inside the barrel was lots of dust as well. Back together lickety split. And all is well as can be.

 

[Ian Grant]

Some Thornton Pickard shutter cases, today, it was the final day of their french polishing, the shutter curtains were made early in the week.

In addition I've finally fitted a correct focus lock on my Super Graphic I've been using an old nut up until now - I bought a camera with many issues so avery low purchase price, the seller had given up on finding the parts (non existant here in the UK). The back's been replaced I've retsored the front standard, just the Rangefinder left to do but it's not something I'll realy use.

Next job is making lens boards and fitting lenses, I need a few retaining rings and some old shutters for parts as well to restore Betax 3 & 5 shutters.

Then back to the Thornton Pickard Ruby reflex restoration

Ian

 

[Greg Heath]

Konica Auto S2 Rangefiner. Tore apart the winding and cocking mechanism, cleaned and relubed. The Film loading spools on these cameras get really hard to rotate. A complete teardown is needed. Can't wait to go shooting today !!
I have another one on the bench that is enjoying a complete teardown and CLA. Rangefinders Rock !

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Zeiss super ikonta IV finally!!! Have had it for awhile, stiff focus, bit of fungus on lens, dim viewfinder, but with a good rf patch that was aligned well.

I attempted a fix a little while back, just the lens, but it was a no go. The set screws were worn and couldn't be removed.

So today, I was checking it again for fungus spread, it hasn't which is a slight relief. Decided to put a bit of naphtha to loosen up focus, which worked, but ultimately flooded the lens and moved dirt onto it doh!

So what the hell, using the Kiev survival site guide, I dismantled the camera, took out the lens and cleaned as much as I could the rear and middle elements removing dirt and fungus. The front elements were unfortunately stuck without removal of set screws holding lens collar. After cleaning, getting the lens back on was a total pain! Most frustrating repair part I have encountered so far as I did not make a custom spanner. I did with a combination of collapsing the lens and watch tools from the back. Ugh.

Top plate and viewfinder cleaning was easy, but the person to worked on this camera previously mixed up the order of some shims. Replaced according to pics. I actually had a extra part not shown on the site under the right film wind, probably omitted in pics by accident as it was a large piece .


Its operating smoothly now, easy to turn focus, viewfinder and rf are brighter, and everything was cleaned up omitting the area right behind front element which still has a few spots of fungus but is unreachable. ~3.5 hours work. And its sunrise lol.

 

[Keessan]

I fixed a Yashica Lynx 1000 with aperture problems. Took the whole lens apart and found a bent diaphragmblade. The whole fix took me two days!
What a drag! Founding out what the positions are of the blades and the same thing with the shutterblades! Its a japanees made Compur Shutter, Beautiful!
At this moment I have to look at the slowtimes 1/8 to 1 sec They seem to be mixed up. Getting back in there today.

 

[MFstooges]

Sorry to be slightly OOT, anybody knows where could I get small screw for Nikon top and bottom cover?

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Various vendors online such as eBay or through surplus channels may have similar screws (you can search lens/optical screws for smaller sized ones). In the past you supposedly could order any part from Nikon, but not so now. Your other alternative is to buy a non functioning body and strip for screws and keep for parts. Or drop by a repair place and see if they have a tin of extras lying around for you to take a few.

 

[werra]

Fixed 4x5 RB Model B shutter curtain I broke yesterday while soaking with furniture polish. Running dripping wet shutter is not the best idea, the curtain broke on 3/4 window.
Two strips of silk ribbon and Gütermann HT2 glue. Appears to be running fine.

 

[werra]

And it broke now at 3/8